Unity, rears its head....continued

To pick up where I left off yesterday, regarding the City Commission meeting from Tuesday April 5.  I have already told you about the "Good Vibrations" that emanated from all the Commissioners and it would seem that we are on our way to a United Commission.  Hopefully, from that we can work our way outward to a United Deerfield Beach.

Oh, if you didn't know...Deerfield Beach is fragmented socially, economically, spiritually, racially, and governmentally.  That is just the reality of it and the sooner we face it the sooner we can start to fix it.  So, there is a hard long road ahead of us and for those who are not willing to be part of the solution finding process...well, you'll see...

So, basically the rest of the night went by swimmingly and then public comments.  

I know the dias probably hates this portion of the night.

You know at the end of the night the Public is allowed a few minutes to speak to the Commissioners about their concerns and issues.  So the main part here was a couple of citizens who decided that it was time to stand up to BSO and let the City know about some issues these individuals alleged had happened to them.  Now, I will not go into the nitty gritty of it, but if 1% of what they said was true then BSO "has got some splaining to do" (In my Ricky Ricardo voice). Cheif Sudler looked a little perturbed by the information provided by these courageous citizens, because some of it was appalling.  I personally hope that if these incident turn out to be true that some form of task force is created to monitor BSO's activities in District 2.  The Commissioners should create an advisory board equally comprised of residence from each district in the City to work with the BSO on issues like this.  Like I said, if there is even 1% truth to any of it...then BSO should be ashamed of itself and I would have hoped that we had moved beyond this type of blatant racial bias in this day in age.  

I guess they don't call it "The Good Ol' US of A for nothing".

So, I spoke and advised the Commission of the outcome of my meeting with the City Manager, Burgess Hanson, and the Assistant City Manager, Keven Klopp.  You might remember from my last post entitled Deerfield Beach City Managers Suggest A New Option to Stave Off Lay-offs and Privatization, where I advised that they had informed me that the two contractual City Employees, Burgess Hanson and Keven Klopp would be voluntarily taking a pay cut, even though they did not have to.  Well, that idea was so brilliant and would help the city so much and what better way to lead than by example...So I suggested that all "contractual" employees (of which Burgess informed me at the City Commission meeting that he and Klopp are the only two) take a pay cut.  So to adjust that and get my actual meaning across...I revise my statement to include not just the contractual employees Hanson and Klopp, but all management and it's staff.  That way all City employees help out with this Budget crisis.  I even came up with a formula, check the numbers against payroll and tell me what you guys think.

City Employee making         takes a pay cut of      resulting in about/employee

$12,500-$24,599                          4%                        $500-$984/emp

$24,600-$45,500                          5%                        $1230-$2275/emp

$45,501-$65,599                          6%                        $2730-$3935/emp

$65,600-$75,500                          7%                        $4592-$5285/emp

$75,501-$82,599                          8.5%                     $6417-$7020/emp

Everyone above these thresholds would take an 11% cut.  The option of save-money furloughs would be re-introduced for all employees, on a basis that least affects City services and causes the least detriment to the residence.  Car allowances, mileage allowances, vacation time, sick leave time would be adjusted to accommodate the new budget stresses and therefore sacrifices on the part of all employees would be required.

I tried to obtain the payroll reports before posting this, but do to time constraints I did not get them...so I will repost this again with the actual savings for the city at a later day, but I just wanted to give an idea of some thinking that might work and actually keep everyone happy and working.  

I do know this, City's need to realize that their General Employees are not savings bonds that can be cashed it at any time.  You are dealing with people's lives and these are the individuals who had the least affect on management decisions that would lead a City into financial ruin where it became necessary to lay-off (we all know that management decisions on City's spending cause City's to lose money coupled with real estate issues and taxes.  They go hand in hand, so why should those individuals who had the least to do with it always be the first to suffer. 

 I say like a big side of beef, trim the fat from the top first and then work your way down.